minimumunstick:
Not true. Earlier it was in the definition of MSA that it should only be used for emergency purposes, but this is taken out of the definition, and some companies will allow you to navigate freely within MSA to position yourself for the approach.
MSAs are operational altitudes in PANS-OPS. They are
not in the U.S. under TERPs. Canada uses TERPs, but I believe (not sure, though) they design their MSAs to be operational. In the U.S., MSAs on RNAV IAPs are not sectorized, making them useless even for emergency purposes in mountainous areas.
Look at the MSA on this one:
http://aeronav.faa.gov/d-tpp/1102/06941R18.PDF